Antonio Caldara (I-Bc, B 11881, B 39202)

Antonio Caldara (ca 1670 – 28 December 1736) was an Italian

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Life

Caldara was born in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

(exact date unknown), the son of a violinist. He became a chorister at St Mark's in Venice, where he learned several instruments, probably under the instruction of

Giovanni Legrenzi Giovanni Legrenzi (baptized August 12, 1626 – May 27, 1690) was an Italian composer of opera, vocal and instrumental music, and organist, of the Baroque era. He was one of the most prominent composers in Venice in the late 17th century, and ext ...

. In 1699 he relocated to

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

, where he became ''

maestro di cappella (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

'' to the inept Charles IV, Duke of Mantua, a pensionary of France with a French wife, who took the French side in the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

. Caldara removed from Mantua in 1707, after the French were expelled from Italy, then moved on to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

as chamber composer to

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

, the pretender to the Spanish throne (following the death of

Charles II of Spain Charles II of Spain (''Spanish: Carlos II,'' 6 November 1661 – 1 November 1700), known as the Bewitched (''Spanish: El Hechizado''), was the last Habsburg ruler of the Spanish Empire. Best remembered for his physical disabilities and the War o ...

in 1700 without any direct heir) and who kept a royal court at Barcelona. There, he wrote some operas that are the first Italian operas performed in Spain. He moved on to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, becoming ''maestro di cappella'' to

Francesco Maria Marescotti Ruspoli, 1st Prince of Cerveteri Don Francesco Maria Marescotti, Principe Ruspoli (March 5, 1672 – July 14, 1731) was the ?th Marchese and 1st Principe di Cerveteri, 1st Marchese di Riano and 6th Conte di Vignanello. He was a son of Alessandro Ruspoli, 5th Conte di Vignanel ...

. While there he wrote in 1710 ''La costanza in amor vince l'inganno'' (''Faithfulness in Love Defeats Treachery'') for the public theatre at

Macerata Macerata () is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy, the county seat of the province of Macerata in the Marche region. It has a population of about 41,564. History The historical city centre is on a hill between the Chienti and Potenza ri ...

. With the unexpected death of

Emperor Joseph I , father = Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor , mother = Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg , birth_date = , birth_place = Vienna, Austria , death_date = , death_place = Vienna, Austria , burial_place = Imperial Crypt, Vienna , r ...

from

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

at the age of 32 in April 1711, Caldara deemed it prudent to renew his connections with Charles III – soon to become Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI – as he travelled from Spain to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

via northern Italy. Caldara visited Vienna in 1712, but found Marc'Antonio Ziani and

Johann Joseph Fux Johann Joseph Fux (; – 13 February 1741) was an Austrian composer, music theory, music theorist and pedagogy, pedagogue of the late Baroque music, Baroque era. His most enduring work is not a musical composition but his treatise on counterpoin ...

firmly ensconced in the two highest musical posts. He stopped at the

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

court on his return journey to Rome, where he was well received (and to which he subsequently sent one new opera annually from 1716 to 1727). In 1716, following the death the previous year of Ziani and the promotion of Fux to ''Hofkapellmeister'', Caldara was appointed ' to the Imperial Court in Vienna, and there he remained until his death. Caldara composed more than 70

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

s, more than 30

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

s, and other works including

motets In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Marga ...

and

sonatas Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...

. Percy A. Scholes. "Redman, Reginald". ''Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music''.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1964, p. 87 Several of his compositions have

libretti A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major l ...

Pietro Metastasio Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of '' opera seria'' libretti. Early life Me ...

, the court poet at Vienna from 1729.

Noted works

Operas * ''Sofonisba'' (F. Silvani), Venezia, Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo/

Teatro Malibran The Teatro Malibran, known over its lifetime by a variety of names, beginning with the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo (or Crisostomo) after the nearby church,Lynn 2005, pp. 101—103 is an opera house in Venice which was inaugurated in 1678 with a ...

, 1708. * ''Il più bel nome'' (P. Pariati), Barcelona, 1708. *''

Tito e Berenice ''Tito e Berenice'' is an opera (''dramma per musica'') in three acts composed by Antonio Caldara to a libretto by Carlo Sigismondo Capece. It premiered on 10 January 1714 at the Teatro Capranica in Rome. The story centers on the love affair betw ...

'' (1714) * ''Lucio Papirio dittatore'' (

Zeno Zeno ( grc, Ζήνων) may refer to: People * Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Philosophers * Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes * Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 BC), ...

), Vienna, 1719. *''

I disingannati I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plural ...

'' (Pasquini), Vienna, 1729. * ''

Adriano in Siria ''Adriano in Siria'' (''Hadrian in Syria'') is a libretto by Italian poet Metastasio first performed, with music by Antonio Caldara, in Vienna in 1732, and turned into an opera by at least 60 other composers during the next century. Metastasio ...

'' (Metastasio), Vienna, 1732. * ''

L'Olimpiade ''L'Olimpiade'' is an opera libretto in three acts by Metastasio originally written for an operatic setting by Antonio Caldara of 1733. Metastasio’s plot vaguely draws upon the narrative of "The Trial of the Suitors" provided from Book 6 of ...

'' (Metastasio), Vienna, 1733. * ''

La clemenza di Tito ' (''The Clemency of Titus''), K. 621, is an '' opera seria'' in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Pietro Metastasio. It was started after most of ' (''The Magic Flute''), the last of ...

'' (Metastasio), Vienna, 1734 * ''Achille in Sciro'' (Metastasio), Vienna, 1736. Oratorios * ''Maddalena ai piedi di Cristo'' (c. 1700) * ''Santo Stefano, primo Re d'Ungheria'' (1713) * ''La Conversione di Clodoveo Re di Francia'' (1715) * ''

La passione di Gesù Cristo LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

'' (1730) * ''Il Re del dolore'' (1722) * Stabat Mater (c. 1725) Others * ',

serenata In music, a serenade (; also sometimes called a serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honor of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Italian w ...

on the occasion of the marriage of

Archduke Charles of Austria Archduke Charles Louis John Joseph Laurentius of Austria, Duke of Teschen (german: link=no, Erzherzog Karl Ludwig Johann Josef Lorenz von Österreich, Herzog von Teschen; 5 September 177130 April 1847) was an Austrian field-marshal, the third s ...

Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (28 August 1691 – 21 December 1750) was Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen of Bohemia and Hungary; and Archduchess of Austria by her marriage to Empe ...

on 2 August 1708 * " Sebben, crudele" (Aria from ''La costanza in amor vince l'inganno'', 1710) * ''D'improvviso'' (cantata) * "Alma del core" (aria) * "Selve amiche" (aria) * ''

Missa Providentiae ''Missa Providentiae'' is a Kyrie–Gloria Mass in D minor composed by Antonio Caldara, which around 1728 was expanded into a by Jan Dismas Zelenka: this composer derived a Sanctus and Agnus Dei from Caldara's Kyrie and Gloria, and added a Credo ...

'' * ''Missa Dolorosa'' (1735) * ''La Costanza vince il rigore'' (cantata) * ''Crucifixus'' * ''Come Raggio di Sol'' * ''Christmas Cantata''

References

Discography

* Antonio Caldara, La Concordia De' Pianeti ''vocals,'' Carlos Mena, Daniel Behle, Delphine Galou, Franco Fagioli, Luca Tittoto, Ruxandra Donose, Veronica Cangemi ''Orchestra,'' La Cetra Barockorchester Basel (Deutsche Grammophon/Archiv Produktion 479 3356, 2014) - Recorded at the Konzerthaus Dortmund, 13 - 19 January 2014 in conjunction with the modern world premiere on 18 January 2014 World-premiere recording * Antonio Caldara, Sonatas & Cantatas for soprano, violin and continuo - I Solisti Ambrosiani: Tullia Pedersoli ''soprano,'' Davide Belosio ''violin,'' Claudio Frigerio ''cello,'' Mauro Pinciaroli ''archlute,'' Emma Bolamperti ''harpsichord'' (Urania Records, LDV 14045, 2019) - first world recording

External links

* *
Biography and works

List of recordings

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

School of Music {{DEFAULTSORT:Caldara, Antonio 18th-century Italian composers Italian Baroque composers Italian male classical composers Musicians from Venice Italian opera composers Male opera composers 1670s births 1736 deaths 18th-century Italian male musicians